Saturday, November 2, 2013

An awkward family homecoming at Christmas.A humiliating public weigh-in, with two judging parents as the audience.The announcement of a deadline for arranged marriage doom.And that's just the first two chapters.In "Year of the Chick," Romi Narindra must find love before her parents find her a husband.But this is North America, not Calcutta! Who lets their parents choose their husbands?!Easy to say, less easy to live through, as this book takes you deep inside "awkward Indian living in the West."

This is a funny, funny novel- once you get past and move through the awkward and slightly off-beat nature of the heroine. I think my initial hurdle was the way she and her family interacted with each other. Coming from a completely different upbringing (where I wasn’t expected to adhere to my parent’s expectations of my marriage partner) I found it hard to really feel the warmth I’m sure was there within the family fold. This unfortunately didn’t do much to create a bond between myself and Romi. Although I enjoyed their family interactions because they were amusing, it also left me a bit sad- which I’m sure wasn’t the intention, and I kept wishing that Romi had had some camaraderie with her sister- they were in the same predicament after all? My parents’ expectations of myself and my sister were more academic: as in, finish post-secondary education or else…. but not in an “arranged-marriage” kind of way, and I can’t imagine what pressure that puts on a family and social circle when it’s something so high up on the list of things to accomplish….and it isn’t looking likely to happen anytime soon for Romi!In my opinion Romi attaches herself to an unrealistic notion with her email-pal in Barcelona, (I didn’t have much hope for this one!) and starts to become a giddy, slightly stalker-like crazy woman. I held hope that her sensible friends would steer her back to planet earth but to no avail. At this point it didn’t look likely that Romi will find her true love without the help of her parents and so I was surprised by the ending of the novel.Moondi’s writing style is quick, fun and quirky and I enjoyed the read, but I have to state that I’m so glad I didn't have that kind of pressure put on me to find my soul mate in such strained circumstances. This is the first in a series, and I immediately went to look for the next one to see what might happen next.

Thank you to Year of the Chick for being free on Amazon! All opinions are our own.